Paul Scott comment: The flooding experts are posing the right question

One of the reasons I enjoy being a news reporter is that I enjoy surprises.  And Wednesday night's presentation from the Iowa Flood Center was one of them.

That's because the scientists presented a lot of data, to be sure, but Iowa Flood Center representative Larry Weber also did a nice job of stating the issue being discussed in Decorah about the Menard's store site plan--and he did it without taking a side in the issue.

Here's how Weber stated the issue before Decorah city government: "Do you want to be developing the entire floodplain?"

On the one hand, Weber reported that the probable impact of building a Menard's store at its proposed location wouldn't be that big--just 1.5 inches of higher river level during a major flood.

On the other hand, Weber stated "an individual project may not have a large impact, but collective development has an impact."  And he gave figures showing the problem of flooding is getting bigger in recent years.  That's because storms have gotten bigger, and runoff from those storms has increased, so the floods have gotten bigger.

Weber said some Iowa communities have gotten more conservative about allowing development in floodplains in recent years.  He didn't mention this, but other communities haven't imposed new restrictions.

Instead, he correctly pointed out that this question requires a local decision.  In other words, Decorah could allow the Menard's store to be built in the floodplain and might not suffer major consequences.  But it could also see the trend of flooding getting worse and decide now's a good time to take precautions.

Weber put the question succinctly: "Do you want to be developing the entire floodplain?"